What will be the next evolutionary change for humans?

Question

If the planet lasts that long

Answer 1

Charles Darwin showed that some sort of separation between groups on organisms will tend to result in evolution as each group adapts better to its own environment. This certainly does not need to be a physical separation since he showed that Galapagos finches evolved in different ways depending on what their preferred food was. You start with different groups of birds feeding on different types of seed and you end up with different species of birds that are best adapted to exploiting those seeds.

In spite of globalisation etc., humans are showing increasing signs of social separation with the more affluent/educated tending not to mix socially with the poorest. It is not possible to predict the ultimate effect, but a report recently published in Scotland showed that the death rates in the more affluent areas of society were improving as people gained the benefits of improved lifestyle and better treatments for heart attacks and cancer. However, the death rates were increasing in the poorer areas since these benefits were being outweighed by suicide, drug and alcohol abuse.

If we are evolving into distinct species (for whatever reason) could this be part of the explanation for some unexplained infertility?

It is predicted that the world population will soon start to fall so things will definitely be changing for the human species...and we will ultimately become extinct.

Answer 2

Nobody can really predict this. It would take years and years for any kind of evolutionary change to happen - and it's been proven that it would take 90,000 generations for the trait to show dominance in the population.

But I would say that there probably won't be any more evolutionary changes in humans. Natural selection used to favor certain traits, but in this day and age, we can manipulate our environment so that everyone survives.

One thing that would be interesting, though, is that some people have a natural immunity to the HIV virus due to a mutation in a gene that makes a cell-wall protein. Maybe with the prevalence of HIV in society, the virus will kill people who don't have it, and that allele will become a lot more common? That would be a cool evolutionary change!

Answer 3

Not bigger brains, since humans are already at the limits of head size versus safe delivery at birth. Humans also have a tendency to change the environment to suit their needs, which has the potential of slowing "evolution" (since we don't have to evolve to meet the trials of a changing environment). Yet another factor to consider is that medical technology is altering "natural selection" - infertile couples able to conceive offspring, genetic diseases being treated so that "bad genes" can be passed on to another generation.

Having said that, evolution may not follow environmental influences, but follow social influences instead. Hair colour? Stature and build? Intelligence? Natural or artificially enhanced (since hair colour can be changed)?

OK - So there is no easy answer, and short term trends may not predict long term changes. It'll just come down to who "gets lucky"...

Answer 4

Without knowing what mutational change will go with what selection pressure the prediction is pure speculation. This is a social science misapprehension of evolutionary theory; such that evolution is directional. You need to approach evolutionary theory from a biological perspective.

Answer 5

I think most things will be sort of degenerations that we already see happening...

Because we're living in a habitat formed and controlled by us, there is no natural force encouraging us to keep certain attributes.

- Contacts and glasses have made poor eyesight benign, so I think our vision will decline.
- The pinky toe will go. Feet from just hundreds of years ago had longer toes than we have now.
- Weaker immune systems. With modern medicine, our bodies no longer need to work so hard keeping us healthy.

Just look at anything human-made that takes over or aids a traditionally biological function, and that will be your answer.

As for real "super human" changes... meh.

Answer 6

The next generation of people will be descended from those in the current generation who had children. So: who is having children?

Women with careers and educations have fewer children than those who don't have careers. The next evolutionary step for humans would be that the future women will be less interested in careers than the women of today.

Answer 7

since eugenics is considered immoral id say the next evolutionary change is congenital diseases... oh i got a good one:


sleeping time will be reduced to only an hour a day

Answer 8

That depends upon the environment, since our surrounding is what drives evolution. If it get hotter, the hairless sweaty ones survive. If it gets colder, the furry ones get to live. But whatever happens, I just hope that we figure out a way to live within our environment and with our neighbors, not at war with them.

Answer 9

Hm, good question. I think our bodies are going to have to adjust to all the pollution and chemicals in the air, and hormones in the food. So maybe we're going to have to become more efficient with how our bodies remove waste.

I guess that's the main thing I see as a problem. Our environment is so toxic and maybe we can adapt to our resistance to these toxins and how we remove them from our bodies.

Answer 10

Humans will develope fatter asses and the fingers will reduce to just two on each hand thus making it more comfortable to use computers, if you work where I do a broom will become a permenant feature attached to your a**se so you can sweep the floor while doing everyone elses jobs too, I'm not bitter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!